No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent. ~John Donne
Sales & Marketing – sales & operations – sales & the world….Across every organization there are departments that struggle to work together…why is this?
Let’s take an honest look:
The marketing department feels that the sales team does not appreciate the efforts they put forth to help bring the sales people leads.
The sales people think the world is just being difficult. Marketing doesn’t listen to them about what their customers are asking for, operations does not deliver what they promise, accounting…well they are all just cranky.
Operations think sales people are all prima donna’s who will say anything to book a piece of business – regardless of whether it is physically impossible to fit 500 people in a space made for 200.
Do we see a trend here? Rather than trying to work together – everyone is too busy protecting their interests and blaming the other guys.
If marketing asked sales people what was going on in the street – they could build more effective campaigns.
If operations educated the sales team on what works and what doesn’t, than customers will not have improperly set expectations.
Most importantly, if the sales team decided to BREAK the stereotype, be helpful and appreciative towards marketing, listen and work with operations then an amazing thing will happen. The organization will start to build synergy and who benefits? THE CUSTOMER.
What are you doing to perpetuate or break down stereotypes in your organization? They always say…”You get more flies with honey, than vinegar”.
